Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem is not just physical. There is also something called annexation of the mind and it starts during the formative school years. Introducing the Israeli curriculum into selected schools for Palestinian children in East Jerusalem is a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights laws. By imposing its educational curriculum on schools in Occupied East Jerusalem, the future capital of Palestine, Israel shows that it has no intention of ending its 46-year-old occupation, but rather seeks to consolidate the illegal annexation of Palestinian land. The school material currently being used is a huge distortion of the facts. Palestinian commemorations including Independence Day, President Yasser Arafat's death and the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People are not included in the textbooks. Maps show the Occupied State of Palestine as part of the State of Israel. Hebrew Biblical names are used for Palestinian cities in order to justify Israel's occupation. There are references to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, although this is not recognized by any country, particularly not by Palestine. The Israeli Wall of Annexation is described as a “security fence.” Despite severe violations to Palestinian rights in the city, students are taught that Israel is a “bastion of human rights and democracy.” Israel has also struck the word "nakba" from a textbook for Israeli Arab children, arguing that the government should not promote a term that questions the legitimacy of the state. There is also manipulation of Palestinian textbooks used in East Jerusalem schools. Israel omits from these textbooks, “the Israeli occupation has a negative impact on agriculture” and “one day the occupation will end.” Such censorship is being practiced even though Palestinian textbooks try to help a Palestinian generation understand the meaning of peaceful coexistence.
How, though, can you teach Palestinian children to act positively toward the Israelis when they are continually experiencing Israeli aggression against schools? Even if the authors wanted to give the rosiest picture of the occupation, can they erase what happens to the student in his own home environment? In 2012, four Palestinian students were killed, 638 teachers detained, 2,460 hours of instruction lost and 9,981 students not allowed to reach their schools. Palestinians take pride in their textbooks which they see as a way to build national identity and instill a sense of dignity in their young people, counteracting to some degree the humiliation of checkpoints, barriers, permits, and prisons imposed by Israel. Perhaps because of Palestinian's love for their school textbooks, Israel is attempting to rewrite Palestinian history and undermine national identity.
For the past few years, increasing pressure has been applied on various Palestinian schools in the city to change their educational curriculum. Incentives such as raising salaries and subsidies for schools that adopt the Israeli system were presented with limited success and acceptance. However, this new academic year 2013 – 2014 will witness five well-known Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem teaching the Israeli educational curriculum for some of their classes. The Israeli attempt to impose its own educational system on Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem is a wicked form of annexation. By way of settlement construction, forced displacement and imposing its own educational curriculum on Palestinian schools, Israel has been trying to change the status quo of Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967. But in the process of twisting the facts, Israel is also delegitimizing and demonizing itself. To assert the Israeli narrative over the Palestinian one is racially biased. To say that Jerusalem is Israeli, not Palestinian, is a political, not an educational goal.
